Blooms!

It's been almost two weeks since I have updated here.  We've had so much rain and the kitchen remodeling is still in progress.  Isaac hooked up the sink, so at least I can wash dishes again.  We are hoping to have the shelves up and the hardware on the cabinets this weekend.  We are waiting for one more piece of counter top to finish the other cabinet and then we can start moving all the kitchen stuff back in. After that we will add some peg board to the open wall and put up a back splash behind the sink.

Anyway, enough about the kitchen!  Our CSA with Hazelfield Farm may start this weekend, but will most likely start next weekend.  Because of all the rain the plants need some sunshine to continue growing.  Once the CSA starts, I will photograph the veggies each week and hopefully have some recipes to share.  Isaac brought home some lovely spinach and half a dozen eggs from Smaller Footprint.

I'm saving them so Isaac and I can eat them together this weekend, although I suspect he may come home with some more this weekend.
After the rain stopped, the garden started to bloom!  Here are somethings that are just starting. I'm so excited to see some color! (Click on the photos to enlarge them if you like)

Sage

Irises

 Pincushion

Bachelor Button

Vetch

Chamomile

 Valerian

Thyme

 

Not blooming, but growing at a good clip is the garlic.

The main garden has a huge clump of Lemon Balm in the front. 

The hops as usual are growing inches a day! They will soon cover the arbor.

So, that is just a mini update.  I hope to have more cooking and vegetable updates soon.

First CSA pick-up

After a two week delay due to the wet and cool weather, we were able to pick-up our first CSA basket at the Hyde Park Farmer's Market yesterday.

Included in this week's pick-up: Three different lettuces (buttercrunch, romaine, and red leaf); Green Onions, Broccoli, oregano, mint, radishes, garlic scapes and swiss chard. I wanted to weigh everything, but I couldn't find the kitchen scale as the kitchen is still not all the way put back together. I will start doing that next week, Isaac found it after I had used some of the veggies.
I made a giant salad last night to eat through the week with some of the lettuce Isaac brought home from the farm, the buttercrunch lettuce here, radishes and green onions. I will add walnuts, Craisins and chopped garlic scapes when we are ready to eat it.

 This is what the scape looks like on one of our garlic plants. They grow on the hard-neck varieties of garlic. This will be the bloom and eventually seed of the plant if left on. They taste like garlic but much milder. You can leave the scape on if you want to save the seed, but removing it to eat will allow the plants energy to focus on growing a larger bulb. Here is more information!

I make my own salad dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, a crushed and chopped garlic clove, dijon mustard, honey, thyme and oregano and salt to taste. I make it in a mason jar and shake it until it is nice and emulsified.

Most of this CSA will be devoted to many salads which is fine with me because I don't think I will ever tire of eating salads. Now, cooked greens I can make me a little weary after a while, so I'm making Kale chips to share with family today.  We have Tuscan Kale growing in our garden and Isaac brought home a curly variety from the farm.

I think I mentioned making Kale chips before. Isaac's sister turned me on to them. I highly recommend them to people who aren't sure if they like greens or are tired of cooking them the same way all the time.  Try seasoning them with different spices. I'm making batches with salt, black pepper, and hot Hungarian paprika. Here is the recipe I'm using today.

 Finished, with many more batches to go.

I am also making an asparagus salad with asparagus from the farm, green onions and radishes.  It will be kind of like the recipe here, minus the mushrooms.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant Memorial Day! We are thankful to all of those who have sacrificed their lives for our country. I am happy that I get Isaac one extra day this week.

Getting the most out of your food

My friend K, asks

"Do you have suggestions/comments for people like me with many mouths to feed on a small budget? Obviously, anything we can grow in our own yard is awesome but any tips you may have on where to shop or how to stretch a particular item (like using the chicken carcass) would be very helpful."

This is a very good question and I think most of us want to try and stretch our dollar and our food to its maximum potential.  I am not a food storage or economics expert, so I have found some other resources to help us, along with what works for Iz and I, and some tips that just make sense.

First of all,  if you want to try and incorporate more fresh produce, eggs, meat etc. from the farmer's market, that is great!   You also don't have to break your budget doing so.  Start small and see how it goes.  For example,  make it a goal to go to a farmer's market and budget to buy one thing.  Whatever looks fresh and yummy to you, buy it and take it home.  It will be fun to come up with a recipe for your item and you'll have invested minimum dollars and time in the process.  

If you are past this point and know you want to incorporate the farmer's market into your grocery budget for the week, month (however you budget) you can go about this a few ways.  Here is a blog post that shows one approach to budgeting for the farmer's market. There are some really good ideas that I agree with in this blog post.  To summarize:  

• Make a list 
• Prioritize what is important to you. Are you willing to spend a little more on eggs or certain produce at the market that you can budget into your grocery list?; what can you simply not give up that you buy at the store? (whether it be a time saver that you would rip your hair out if you didn't have, or if you have a picky eater, for example)
• Eat less meat
• Find some fast/easy recipes that you can make ahead and freeze or put in the fridge. (see below to get started)
• Try to grow your own herbs. This doesn't have to be fancy.  You can start herbs from seed rather easily and for about the price of a one use "fresh" herb in the grocery store. Pick which ones you will likely use the most. I recommend basil, parsley, oregano, chives, and thyme as staples. 
• Don't waste.  This can be hard! Just do your best. If your greens look wilt-y, just give them a quick saute in garlic and olive oil; if your tomatoes are a little overripe, cook them into a sauce. Also, save all of your vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag, keep them in the freezer until you have enough to make a stock. If you are a gardener, I would recommend setting up a compost bin or pile of you don't already have one. 

Here is another good blog post with a list of how to maximize your time and budget at the farmer's market. 
They mention going early or late.  This is good since it won't be as crowded. Early is good because you get a better selection. Late is better because some farmers, rather than throw out unsold produce, or take it home with them where it may not last until the next week, might be willing to give you a two for one price, or even just give you some produce.  I was talking to Isaac's cousin who's husband has a small farm in Michigan.  She said that she will just give people extra tomatoes because she doesn't want to take them home and they couldn't possibly eat the leftovers before they go bad.  This will be on a farmer by farmer basis, but if you develop a relationship with someone, it wouldn't hurt to ask.



If you are even more gung-ho about the farmer's market, I would suggest trying out a CSA.  These are weekly baskets of produce that the farmer sets aside for you.  You pay a fee in the winter (we pay ours in February) and then start picking up your basket at the designated time and place.  You really get more for your money in this case.  Our CSA, for a full share of produce (which you will start seeing when we start picking up this weekend) adds up to approximately $30.00 a week.  If you buy a lot of produce "a la carte" at the farmer's market, you may save money by joining the CSA.  The upfront fee can be large, so if you want to try it for a season, I suggest asking an interested friend or family member to share the cost with you.  We did this for the first two years we participated in a CSA and it worked out rather well. You just need to have someone available to pick it up each week.
Local Harvest is a great website to learn more about CSAs in your area. 


This post is getting rather long, and I will talk more about this in the future.  But allow me to list some cookbooks and website that you can check out at the library or on your computer to get you started.  


Time for Dinner: Strategies, Inspirations, and Recipes for Family Meals Every Night of the Week
This has some really nice time saving ideas for make ahead staples.

Everyday Food: great food fast from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
I own this book and use it regularly. There are minimal ingredients, easy prep and cooking. It is organized by season which is nice.

Joy of Cooking
I cannot live without this book.  It is a handy reference for any type of recipe you will need in the kitchen.

Cook and Freeze: 150 Delicious Dishes to Serve Now and Later

Vegetable Harvest: vegetables at the center of the plate
I also love this book.  It goes through vegetables by season. Simple but unique preparation.


Websites:
Food & Wine: Healthy Farmer's Market Recipes
Sunset Magazine: More Ways to Love produce from the farmer's market
Food Gawker: Just type in any ingredient and you will get a list of blog posts with beautiful ideas
Epicurious.com


What are your favorite websites or cook books? 

Farmer's Market Visit

Isaac and I made our first visit of the season to the Hyde Park Farmer's Market.  This is the market where we will pick-up our CSA baskets from Hazelfield Farm, starting next week.

Top Chef was filming their 2011 Tour at the market today; there was a line all they way out to the sidewalk with people waiting to get into the filming tent.  Since we are not big Top Chef viewers (I have no idea who any of the contestants are), Isaac and I made the rounds, visiting some of our favorite tents at the market.  The season is still young, so there was not a ton of fresh produce yet, but we were able to pick-up some fresh asparagus, shitake mushrooms, eggs and a whole small chicken.

The eggs came from B & D Goats.  As the name states, they also have a handful of goats and the milk is used to make soaps and lotions.  Isaac and I talked to the owner, whom we have become friendly with over the past few years, and found out they just had a new goat born just recently.  We mentioned that we are interested in visiting their farm as we are thinking about raising dairy goats in the future.  She welcomed us to the farm whenever we wanted to come.  Hopefully I will have more to report on that soon.

The chicken came from Eaton Farm.  We have purchased many chickens from them in the past and are happy with the quality. We know that the chickens have good, healthy lives before they are processed for consumption.  Of course, the chickens are smaller than those you find at the supermarket, but that is because they are not fed any hormones and are allowed to roam free-getting more exercise than those who are confined to a small pen. A small whole chicken is enough for a meal and we use the carcass for stock.

The mushrooms and asparagus came from Sheltowee Farm.  They cultivate all the mushrooms they sell. Check out their website, there are lots of pictures of their process, it's pretty cool.

We also stopped at the La Terza Coffee booth.  Isaac had a dark roast drip coffee and I had a latte.  I didn't have a chance to take a photo until I was finished. It was very good, I think the fact that the beans are locally and freshly roasted certainly helps. I'm not a coffee connoisseur but I actually prefer La Terza to Starbucks.  The taste is much more nuanced and flavorful than Starbucks, which I find to be a overpowering (burnt tasting) at times.  Their store and roasting facility is actually not that far from our house, so when I get a creamy latte craving, I will try to make the effort and go to La Terza rather than the 'Bux.

All Gone! :(

I was FINALLY able to do some cooking in the kitchen.  Everything is not back where it belongs, but I wanted to make Isaac some food to take back with him.

In progress

 Herbed Egg casserole with spinach, onions, asparagus.

Lasagne with herb-y ricotta, home-made red sauce, and fresh mozzarella

(It rained [again!] today so the lighting in the house is not optimal for food pictures, but you get the idea)

The spinach, asparagus, herbs (oregano, thyme, sage, parsley) came from either a farm or our yard. I'm hoping someday that the cheese will be home-made too!

There was some steamed asparagus left over so we had it as a snack. They were so good, we ate them plain.

It Has Begun!

It is finally time for Isaac to go to Yellow Springs and start his apprenticeship with Smaller Footprint Farm.  This is bittersweet as I will miss him very much until I see him on the weekends.  Despite missing Iz, I am really proud of him and happy that he is doing this!

We packed Iz up this morning, put his bike in the back of the truck and we were off.  We met Doug, one of the farmers, and he introduced us to Al, the man with whom Isaac will be staying with while in Yellow Springs.  Al is a very nice man who is a retired farmer.  He is also a veteran host as he told us that he has had people from China, Russia and Africa to name a few stay with him in the past.

 After we unloaded the bags, we followed Doug to the farm where he gave a tour.

The entrance:

View from the other side

Doug pointed out all of the beds that are growing vegetables for their CSA including, onions, Red Russian Kale, Kholrabi and Radishes to name a few.  We also saw the green houses/hoop house with tomato and other seedlings.

We then had the pleasure to meet the newest additions to the farm:

Pigs!

And they sure live up to their name when the eat!

We then took a stroll over to the chickens.  Here is one proud rooster!

The stylish coop.

See more chicken photos here.

I think Isaac is going to have a lot of fun even if working on the farm is going to be hard work!

After our tour of the farm, Iz and I decided to take a tour of the town. We have been to Yellow Springs before, but we wanted to spend as much of the day together.  Besides, we had never been to the famous Young's Dairy.  Every time we tell someone about Isaac working on a farm in Yellow Springs, they mention Young's.  So off we went. We had some yummy ice cream.

And met some super cute goats!

Again, please click here to see more photos.

It has been a busy and emotional day and there are many more days to come.  I think Isaac will post some entries in the future, I hope. We just have to make sure that he has access to wifi.  Thanks to everyone who has been so great to us. We really appreciate all of your support and encouragement!